Mobi Press

Mobi Press

Samsung Galaxy Nexus Review

Posted by Admin Saturday, December 3, 2011

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus is Google's latest showcase phone, running the revamped version of their Android mobile platform.  We have a separate review of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.  Read that first if you want a clear picture of what the upgraded OS does.

Physically, the handset bears plenty of resemblance to the similarly Samsung-produced Nexus S.  If you liked the overall design of that phone, then you'll get much of the same here.  Except bigger.  It actually feels a bit too big in my hand, although the size and heft are manageable once you get used to it.
Out front sits a huge 4.65-inch Super AMOLED touchscreen, with a 1,280 x 720 resolution.   As you can imagine, this makes for an amazingly expansive display, with intense sharpness, high levels of brightness and vivid colors.  There are no physical buttons on the front panel, making for an even more elegant design.
As a phone, the Galaxy Nexus makes for good calls, with lots of volume and voices coming through clearly.  Those on the other end reported similar performance, although they did report hearing some ambient buzzing at times.   Speakerphone has generous volume, although you'd probably not want to turn it up to max (it's ugly when it gets there).  Battery performed well during the short time we've had to play around with the unlocked phone.  Expect it to last you a day during normal use.
All the smartphone essentials, of course, are onboard.    There a full load of messaging options, email and calendar syncing, a full set of wireless connectivity (4G, 3G, aGPS, Bluetooth and WiFi), and a host of updated Google Mobile apps.   The speaker-independent voice commands allow you to do an expansive range of things, too, provided you use it in a room without a lot of noise.   GPS performed better than most Galaxy devices, likely because of the added barometer for GPS locking.
The main camera is surprisingly only 5.0 megapixels.   It performs well enough, though, with a generously bright flash and zero shutter lag to boot.  HD videos shot on the camera looked crisp, but get blurry fast with motion involved.   There's also a front-facing video cam for conference calls.
For media playback, the large 720p display and 1.2GHz dual-core processor makes for excellent movie viewing.  We do bemoan the lack of a microSD card slot, though, which leaves you limited to the 32GB of onboard storage.
While the Samsung Galaxy Nexus' hardware will probably be eclipsed shortly by newer, faster phones, it's easily one of the best-performing Android handsets we’ve ever used.  If you want the pure Android experience, though, it can't be beat.

pute your email and get your free gift now !!

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner